Great title that perfectly fits this quick read. Since I started reading this book on my Kindle while riding my bike in our basement, I hadn’t paid any attention to the title beyond “Life Is Short And.” I had no idea how short the book was. That fact does not takeaway from the value of the book. Each chapter gives you just the right amount of material to implement the belief or concept being shared into your own life.

To help open discussion and sometimes to further strengthen a lesson being shared, Peter weaves quotes from well-known writers, thinkers, and business professionals throughout the book.

The lesson that most stuck with me was “Small Steps” – focus on the small steps. Doing so will keep you focused on the action that is needed now right in front of you.

Additional favorite quotes included:

“Focusing on what matters means saying no to things that don’t matter. Otherwise, your life becomes cultured with distractions.”
This quote reminded me to say “No” to engaging on FaceBook more than three times a day.

“It’s not that I’m smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” Albert Einstein
Brilliant insight by Einstein. What would happen if each of us was willing to stay on a challenge until we could solve the situation?

“To make the most of your life, say no to things that don’t matter, work hard at what you love, and occasionally take time away from your core focus to rest so that your mind can be quiet for great insights to come.”
For me, this quote had perfect timing. 2015 is going to include significant traveling, speaking, and writing. This week, I’m stepping away from my work to rest, rejuvenate, and expand my mind, body, and spirit. History has told me that the rewards of doing so are immeasurable.

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” Mark Twain
Is each of us living fully? If not, what would it take for you to do so? Take Step #1 toward doing so in the next 30 minutes. Remember the lesson from earlier? One step at a time. The key is taking the step.

“Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.” Oliver Wendall Holmes
Once again reminding us to TAKE THE FIRST STEP.

“If you have close friendships and love your work, the odds are quite high that you’ll be happy most of the time.”
Love is a great way to express how I feel about my work and my friends. A week ago, I was in Utah spending time with close friends in a Mastermind (6 friends and colleagues come together to discuss your companies, the future, and ask for input you are seeking in any area of your life). The 3 days wrapped up with skiing in the beautiful mountains outside Salt Lake City with a separate group of friends.

As helpful as the life and business advice was from my Mastermind and as incredible as the views were, the invigorating mountain air was to breath in, and the joy of moving through the Utah snow was while skiing, it was the friends I was with that brought the deepest fulfillment. When I left Utah, I had been refreshed through relationships. Consider the possibility to take more time for friends in 2015.

At the end of my bike ride this afternoon, I suddenly realized I was in the last chapter of this powerful, quick read. Take 45 to 90 minutes to treat yourself to this inspiring read by Peter Atkins. Click here to find the book on Amazon.com.

Upon finishing reading Kamal Ravikant’s first book, Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It, I found myself being gravitated toward his style. I’ve always loved easy, quick reads that get you thinking. Maybe that is intellectual laziness on my part or a magnetism toward simplicity.

Kamal’s 2nd book is titled Live Your Truth, a theme I’ve believed in for a few decades. Once again, Kamal did not disappoint. He takes you on quick journeys with many chapters only being a page to three pages in length. Many people will read this book in under 2 hours.

For those of you noticing, I am referring to Kamal Ravikant by his first name. The choice is intentional. Thinking of an author by the author’s first name makes the person more real. I would hope the same for the readers of my books and blog – that they would say, “Mike’s book” instead of “Domitrz’s book” (which seems cold and distant).

If you love to have simple concepts and thoughts that challenge you to look inward, Live Your Truth could be an ideal fit for you. Kamal is great at sharing from his heart, his soul, and his own personal experiences of discovery.

He writes with words and language that inspires me to want to spend a week at the Monastery outside Big Sur to write my next book.

Key discoveries and/or lessons from this book for me were:

Resist Nothing. Go with the Flow. If life is a river and you try to fight the current, life will be an ongoing struggle for you. If you learn to go with the flow and be present in the moment, you will move down the river and onto the next moment of life – never getting stuck trying to go backward.

EFFORT is what matters and reflects who I am – not outcomes and results. Lots of outside forces can impact outcomes and results. The one aspect you have the most say in is your effort. If you give fully of yourself, you will always be growing and learning through every outcome and/or result. Thus, you will be living life fully and growing. That fulfillment lasts longer and is much more consistent than the high from an outcome or result.

Go ALL IN and Share with the World. You’ve only got one life. Why keep everything to yourself?

Forgiveness first lies in forgiving yourself. The person you are angry with, disappointed in, or hurt by is human, “Fallible, full of mistakes, trying to make his way through the world like the rest of us, afraid. Human.” Just like ourselves.

I especially enjoyed when Kamal tells the story of a lesson comedian Louis CK learned from legendary comedian George Carlin. Of course I’ll leave that for you to read yourself.

Treat yourself to this wonderful book of self-discovery and sharing by Kamal Ravikant. If you’ve read the book, please let me know your thoughts of what you discovered.

KindleUnlimited is an amazing program offered by Amazon that provides you thousands of books to choose from each month $9.99 a month. You don’t pay anything for the individual titles you want to read – just the $9.99 a month.

I don’t remember downloading this book – ever. Neither does Karen. Hmmmm. The title sounds interesting. I ask myself, “Why don’t I open it, start reading, and see if it captures me? I have 20 minutes.”

Well that 20 minutes was all I needed to know I wanted to read this simple, quick, and powerful book. I would resume reading at the airport and finish the book on my 2nd flight (slept on the 1st flight). This is a book some people will easily finish in under 2 hours.

The author, Kamal Ravikant, shares lessons and insights that are succinct with the importance of loving yourself.

Love Yourself

Follow a few simple systems to following through with that commitment

Ask yourself a couple questions that could more easily take you down the path you want to experience.

While I’ve always believed in loving yourself and the importance of doing so, Ravikant helped me realize a few ways I was failing to actually live with love for myself and provided me solutions for reprogramming my thoughts do live with love for myself.

During times others or yourself are bringing negativity and/or stress into your life, the book shares the importance of asking yourself the following question, “If I loved myself truly and deeply, would I let myself experience this?”

During moments of making choices, help yourself with the question, “If I loved myself truly and deeply, what would I do?”

I applied the question “If I loved myself truly and deeply, what would I do?” to redirecting my food choices at the airport to be congruent with my wellness outlook and goals.

One area of the book reminded of an important aspect the Landmark Forum reveals – that we are “Meaning-Making-Machines.” The phrase “Meaning-Making-Machines” explains how we, as human beings, make up meanings to everything. We are wired to do so. In doing so, many of us add a ton of unnecessary drama, excuses, and negative energy to our lives. Instead, be sure to realize “what actually happened” verses the meaning you attached to it.

An example a person could have is, “My friend wasn’t talking to me today. He must be mad at me.” What actually happened was “My friend was quiet” – nothing more. nothing less.

A key to being able to recognize the “Nothing more. Nothing Less” moments throughout each day is to believe in yourself. To be able to believe in yourself, you must first love yourself. That is not “like yourself” – that is “love yourself.”

The importance of doing so is shared in Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It. Treat yourself to the cool techniques for learning how to truly and deeply love yourself by purchasing and/or download this book today.

Remember at the beginning of this blog post when I shared that I didn’t remember downloading the book. When I realized it was part of KindleUnlimited, I remembered that I probably downloaded it along with several others in the free reading program – titles that caught my attention and I’m glad this one did.

**Why the image of the book cover is not included in this post:
Upon giving this book a “5 Star” review on Kindle, I noticed the cover of the book for the first time. With the issue of mental health, suicide, and gun violence at the forefront of conversations in our country, I made a choice to not include the image.

I just finished a very quick, intriguing book that I am implementing into my life – along with a few family and friends. Each of us has committed to being accountability partners for each other over the next 30 days.

In The Miracle Morning, author Hal Elrod has created a simple and powerful approach to starting EVERY day in a way that makes each day more fulfilling, meaningful, productive, and successful. The overriding theme is that if you want to thrive in life, you need to invest in your own self-development every day. In fact, you need to place your mind, spirit, and thought process into that mode before your day gets rolling.

Elrod has a strong following of readers who have implemented the system into their lives and seen quick results. Just in the first 2 days, I’ve already seen surprising results. In fact, I am already LOVING the skill set and system he has taught me to start each day with.

The 30-Day Challenge is exactly as it sounds. You are inspired to try this system or 30 days and see how much of your life changes. I’m on day 2 and looking forward to days 30, 300, 3000, and beyond.

I’m back with one a book recommendation – this book is a new addition to my list of All-Time Favorites. Had I read this book back in March (my last post), you wouldn’t have seen such a long break between blogging. Here goes:

Do you ever find yourself overwhelmed or making excuses for why you are not getting something done? If so, Greg Mckeown’s book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less is an essential read. Yes, I couldn’t resist the play on words. Wait. That comment was not essential. Move on.

As you may know from reading my blog, I love books that inspire you to dig deep into yourself AND provide you with skills and strategies for moving forward in the most positive direction possible.

Essentialism delivers at every level. As I dove into the book, I found myself writing more notes than ever before. With the pages I was filling in my journal, you would have thought I was going to be tested on the material. My brain was spinning in multiple directions – full of excitement of how I would implement each specific lesson.

As I read further in the book, I had an epiphany! “Stop taking sooo many notes. Simply TAKE IN THE BOOK. Be present in its lessons.”

After all, this book is about “What is ESSENTIAL?” For the rest of the book, I took much less notes and found myself thinking more deeply. The results have been wonderful.

How has the book impacted me?

Right after reading the book, I was attending my favorite convention, PLATFORM (formerly known as the National Speakers Association). My history at the convention is to come home with pages of notes and ideas – only to implement a handful that truly stood out. By the end of this year’s convention, my notes were 1/5 their normal volume. Yes, I still attended as many sessions as possible. Ironically, the keynote speakers and breakout sessions were the best combination of experts, presenters, and content in all my years in the organization (a shout out to Dan Thurmon and Lt. Col. Rob “Waldo” Waldman for organizing and running a sensational event). The greatly reduced note taking was a result of my asking the following question before writing something down, “Is this essential?”

Now imagine applying the same question to your personal life or slightly adapted question of “Based on my life priorities, is what I’m doing right now essential?”

For those who may be thinking, “That is a simple concept. Why read the book?” Essentialism opens our vision to how the failure to live by the essential question is currently impacting us – often in ways we are not aware and that are not positive. Then you are given specific tools to help you live by this philosophy and do so with less. The opportunity for profound transformation.